Your Friday Morning Roundup

“With the 32nd pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select…”

Those were 13 words that did not get uttered last night in Dallas. Instead, Howie Roseman did what many expected him to do and traded down, acquiring more picks in the process. Baltimore had the honor of moving back up in the first round in exchange for the 52nd pick (2nd round), the 125th pick (4th round), and a 2019 2nd round pick.

They used that pick on quarterback Lamar Jackson, who slipped until the end of the first round. Earlier in the night, the Saints moved from 27 to 14 in a trade that some thought would result in Jackson being snagged there. Instead, they selected Marcus Davenport out of UTSA. The Patriots passed on Jackson twice after they were rumored to be really interested in him.

The move may be good and bad. Good because the Eagles got more picks, especially their additional pick in next year’s 2nd round. They now have 11 picks next year. But it could be bad because the Eagles won’t make their first pick until significantly later in the next round.

“Our balance was the short term vs. the long term on the trade offers,” executive Howie Roseman said not long after the Eagles swapped picks with the Ravens on Thursday night. “And we decided that it’s just too hard to get a second-round pick. When we look at the draft, the difference in value when you’re picking in the second round vs. even when you’re picking in the third round.

Also, some players got new numbers (those in bold are guys that are important):

Jay Ajayi (26)

Michael Bennett (77)

Elie Bouka (38)

Winston Craig (74)

Ronald Darby (21)

Randall Goforth (36)

Taylor Hart (76)

Cameron Johnston (1)

Corey Nelson (52)

Haloti Ngata (94)

Joshua Perkins (83)

Richard Rodgers (82)

Aziz Shittu (90)

Tre Sullivan (37)

Jon Toth (64)

Mike Wallace (14)

Dom Williams (84)

Marquess Wilson (81)

Paul Worrilow (50)

Adam Zaruba (80)

The Roundup:

The Phillies took a bad 8-2 loss to the Diamondbacks yesterday afternoon. You probably didn’t watch because the game was only on Facebook Watch, which was a smart idea on your part.

Ben Lively struggled right from the start, only going 2 1/3 innings and giving up seven runs on seven hits and walking four on 67 pitches. He only recorded one strikeout. Arizona put up three runs in the first before scoring the remaining five in the third. Whereas Nick Pivetta has been outstanding, Lively has not made it through the sixth inning in all but one of his starts.

Aaron Altherr extended his hitting streak to five games with an RBI double. And while Altherr is finally hitting, Carlos Santana is looking to copy what the outfielder has done to end his own slump:

“I feel much better now,” Santana said after going 1-for-4, with a double in the fourth inning. “I’m feeling comfortable and finding my pitch. I know it’s a long season, and we’ll see what happens later.”

Santana has seven hits in 25 at-bats since Gabe Kapler removed him from the lineup for one game in Atlanta. Santana has five walks and three extra-base hits in those seven games. It is not enough to say his slump is busted, but it is a trend in the right direction. Santana entered that day off with seven hits in 62 at-bats.

“For me, it’s just about staying positive and focused,” Santana said. “It’s a long season. We have to keep fighting, every game and every at-bat. We’ll see what happens.”

Up next is a weekend series with the Atlanta Braves for the third time this season. We’re just hitting the one month mark. And like the previous two series, it’ll start with Aaron Nola against Julio Teheran. First pitch tonight is at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Brett Brown’s squad will easily take that extended rest. They’re preparing for an even more intense series whoever wins Saturday night:

“In every series, the deeper you go, I’m going to paint something more physical,” Brown said, “something more dramatic, something more fundamental, something that you have to game plan and be on point with a scouting report.”

Rebounding remains one of the team’s core fundamentals in their next series.

Bobby Marks: There are two questions that the 76ers’ front office has to ask about this type of deal:

Can they sign Leonard (or a similar player) as a free agent in 2019 using cap space without sacrificing assets?

Are they confident Leonard will commit long term?

Before the first question is answered, Philadelphia will need to rely on coach Brett Brown and his relationship with Leonard from his days as an assistant in San Antonio. Because Philadelphia is restricted in what it can offer Leonard in an extension before free agency (four years, $107 million; six months after he is acquired), both sides would be relying on a handshake agreement before the trade is completed. Essentially, the Sixers would be risking three assets because they trust Leonard.

If the risk is warranted, Philadelphia would still have $27 million in room in 2018 and a lineup featuring Leonard, Ben Simmons, Robert Covington and Joel Embiid, plus its own first-round pick. The 76ers can take the same approach and roll over room to 2019 with $20 million in space.

Remember, as the Lakers have learned, cap space is no guarantee of signing an All-NBA-level player. For San Antonio, trading Leonard would be the last resort if the relationship between the organization and player cannot be repaired.

This trade would accomplish three things for San Antonio: It would send Leonard to the Eastern Conference; the Spurs would remain competitive with three players who can help now; and the Spurs could have $35 million in 2019 to add players to surround LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Murray, Fultz, Saric and two first-round picks in 2018 (the Lakers’ first and their own).

“Ninety-eight points is respectable. Being a playoff team is respectable,” Hakstol said at his season-ending news conference Thursday at the Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees. “We’re not here to be respectable. We’re here to be better than that.”

Hakstol and his staff are staying. But Brandon Manning, Matt Read, Johnny Oduya (lol), and probably Val Filppula will not be back.

TV ratings for the Flyers dropped 25% this season compared to last. But there’s more to the story than just that. And one stat went significantly up.

Marcus Hayes had another bad take on Claude Giroux. The talking poop emoji also made its Crossing Broad debut.

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Chris is the Morning Roundup writer on Crossing Broad. He recently graduated from Syracuse University and was the video coordinator for the men's lacrosse team. He's previously covered the Philadelphia Eagles for Philadelphia Magazine’s Birds 24/7 and KYW Newsradio 1060. Chris is also a Production Assistant at ESPN and the Managing Editor for the college lacrosse website College Crosse.

Whether or not you like it, they are readers. If you don’t understand that you shouldn’t respond to them (I’m sure that this is discussed, or at least should be, in any basic Communications course) , then shame on you. Sometimes the content on this site is “lame” and the comments are the only saving grace for a subpar piece, offering a laugh. This site literally just posted within the last few days ripping Philly.com writers. I used to check the site daily, but now check it less frequently, mainly because of watered down content, but partially because I find your “angry writer” shtick dull and tiresome.

Fla Fla FlohiApril 27, 2018 at 12:34 pm

Yet, here you are. Love the people who rip the site but keep coming back for more. Whose the moron?

A) I have gone from checking this site multiple times a day, to once daily, to an occasional reader. The content hardly has me coming back for more.
B) Whose…..really?
C) I didn’t say anyone was a moron. I simply said that it makes no sense to bicker with commentors/attack them in articles if they don’t matter.

John Gonzalez wife was bouncing all over the stage last night in DallasApril 27, 2018 at 9:56 am